How can leaders, professionals, and teams use listening in a strategic way to achieve their own goals?

It's possible to shift unfocused, unproductive, and unsettled conversations to calm, clarity, and creative conversations - and even meetings!

But, you need tools, strategy, and practice. You need...

The L.I.S.T.E.N. Masterclass!

Module 1: New Communication Tools and Techniques

The Breakthrough Listening ToolboxTM teaches simple and effective communication concepts and techniques such as the Five-Part Powerful Paraphrase, Inquisitive Questions, Listen Anyway, and more.

Learn The Listening Cafe Meeting MethodTM, a simple but transformative method to move away from just letting people take turns talking and move towards take turns really listening to each other.

Module 2: A New Strategy to Achieve Goals

The L.I.S.T.E.N. StrategyTM is a six-step process to create breakthroughs in chaotic conversations. The steps create a systems approach to addressing a problem, opportunity, or goal with a specific style of communication: Breakthrough Listening.

Overall, the general sequence of steps is something you are likely familiar with in other contexts, such as project management or program evaluation. However, organizing your communications approach using this strategy can be the missing piece in your ability to have important and valuable breakthroughs in conversations that seem chaotic, stalled, confused, or difficult.

L.I.S.T.E.N. stands for the following:

  1. LIST Roles and Goals
  2. IDENTIFY Key People and Listening Blocks
  3. SELECT Tools and Techniques
  4. TIMELINE AND TO-DOs
  5. ENGAGE! (EXECUTE Your Plan!)
  6. NOTICE Listening Breakthroughs and Breakdowns

Module 3: The Practice Assignments

Learning concepts is important, but the Practice Assignments help you learn and apply the Breakthrough Listening Tools & Techniques and The L.I.S.T.E.N. Strategy both in your everyday conversations and to achieve a specific goal.

The Practice Assignments do not take a lot of time, but they can be transformative - in fact, they can lead to a Listening Breakthrough!

Everyone who earns a certificate reports and celebrates at least one Listening Breakthrough during the course.

Pricing for Individuals and Teams

Develop your own individual skills, learn with friends, or train your entire team!

Individual training is self-paced, includes up to two coaching sessions, and instructor feedback.

Team training includes the full certification plus up to four one-hour live online class sessions customized to your organization's goals and schedule.

Experience the research-based curriculum and instruction facilitates immediate and applied learning!

Instructional design and adult learning principles are used to create a learning experience to fit into the busy lives of professionals, leaders, and teams. The course is designed to accelerate leader development, not just to teach basic listening skills.

  • Designed to Apply to Personal, Professional, Team, and Organizational Goals

  • Informed by academic literature in leadership studies, organizational behavior, meeting science, listening research, and more!

  • Focused Micro Listening Lessons with Videos, PDFs, and Graphics

  • Self-Paced Online Modules

  • Learn Anywhere! Optimized for Mobile, Tablet, or Desktop

  • Personalized Feedback from Instructor!

  • Practice Quizzes and Short Multiple Choice Exam

  • Practice Assignments to Immediately Use the Tools and Strategies

  • The Team/Group Training Option Includes Live Instruction - Learn Together!

Instructor

Chief Listening Officer

Kai Degner

Kai Degner, M.B.A., is founder of The Listening Campaign LLC, and author of the Breakthrough Listening ToolboxTM, The Listening CaféTM, The L.I.S.T.E.N. StrategyTM, and host of The Listening Campaign Podcast. He is a former mayor and eight-year local elected official, 10-year real estate agent, a university training and development administrator, and a doctoral student in strategic leadership studies. His studies focus on listening, leader, and team development.

Course curriculum

Fast, Practical Learning for Leaders and Teams

  • 1

    Welcome! A Short Course Orientation

  • 2

    Coaching with Kai

    • COACHING WITH KAI
  • 3

    The Breakthrough Listening Toolbox

    • The Definition of Breakthrough Listening

    • Listening Blocks and The Golden Rule of Breakthrough Listening

    • The Five-Part Powerful Paraphrase

    • Alternatives to the Five-Part Powerful Paraphrase

    • The Question Safe Zone

    • The P-Q-P Protocol

    • Listening in Meetings: The Listening Café

    • Alternative and Example Uses of the Listening Cafe

    • Practice Quiz: 5 Random Sample Questions with Explanations

    • Exam: 25 Questions | Answer 20 Correctly to Pass!

    • Two-Question Satisfaction Survey (Breakthrough Listening Toolkit)
  • 4

    The L.I.S.T.E.N. Strategy

    • Introduction to The L.I.S.T.E.N. Strategy

    • 1. LIST Roles and Goals

    • 2. IDENTIFY Key People and Listening Blocks

    • 3. SELECT Tools & Techniques

    • 4. TIMELINE AND TO-DOs

    • 5. ENGAGE (EXECUTE Your Plan)

    • 6. NOTICE Breakthroughs and Breakdowns

    • Exam: 10 Questions | Answer 8 Correctly to Pass!

    • Two-Question Satisfaction Survey (The L.I.S.T.E.N. Strategy)
  • 5

    Practice Assignments

    • Listen Anyway Reflection

    • L.I.S.T.

    • E.N.

    • Hold a Listening Café

    • Final Reflection Statement

    • Three-Question Satisfaction Survey
  • 6

    Celebrate Listening Breakthroughs!

    • Listening Breakthrough #1

    • OPTIONAL: Listening Breakthrough #2

    • OPTIONAL: Listening Breakthrough #3
  • 7

    Completion and Certification

    • How to Access Your Digital Certificate
Watch Intro Video

Sneak Peak: Breakthrough Listening Micro Lessons

Watch the Short and Practical Listening Lessons

Testimonials from Participants

Professionals, Managers, and Politicians all See Results

Great for Team Professional Development!

Alex D.

"Using Kai's Breakthrough Listening as professional development has been great for my team and me -- it's something that's impactful across all of our functions."

From distractions to new focus!

Kat W.

"It was interesting to me to realize how many distractions we have without noticing when we are trying to listen. I have been trying to be more conscientious during meetings."

A New Leadership Approach for Me

Nate B.

"I approached the meeting with the belief that the other participants had goals that were just as important as mine and ideas that were just as good as mine, and I tried to use my own skills to develop and promote their ideas and perspectives rather than my own."

Packed and organized training!

Jim M.

"Great class Kai, you do cover lots of content in a short time. Thanks for being so organized."

The Best Ideas Come Through Listening

Meredith R.

"Listening provides the opportunity to find the best ideas and come to the best decisions, even if they’re not the ones I would have supported from the outset. It requires a bit of ego-squashing, however, to truly believe that the best ideas in the room might be coming from someone else."

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